AWH 5-9

Chapter 5, Heat and Temperature 5-9 Table 5-4. Specific Heat of Various Substances Substance Phase Specific Heat (J g-1 K-1) Water (steam) Gas (100 °C) 4.22 Water Liquid (25 °C) 4.18 Wood (balsa) Solid 2.90 Water (ice) Solid (0 °C) 2.05 Wood (oak) Solid 2.00 Soil (wet) Solid 1.48 Sandy clay Solid 1.38 Air (sea level, dry) Gas 1.01 Asphalt Solid 0.92 Clay Solid 0.92 Aluminum Solid 0.91 Brick (common) Solid 0.90 Concrete Solid 0.88 Glass Solid 0.84 Limestone Solid 0.84 Sand (quartz) Solid 0.83 Soil (dry) Solid 0.80 Granite Solid 0.79 Iron Solid 0.46 Copper Solid 0.39 Mercury Liquid 0.14 Lead Solid 0.13 All measurements are at 25 °C unless otherwise noted. Note: 1 K equals -272.15 °C. Water has the highest specific heat of any naturally occurring substance. That means it has a much higher capacity for storing heat energy than other substances, such as soil, sand, rock, or air. Water can store large amounts of heat energy while only experiencing a small temperature change. Figure 5-6 compares the specific heat of water and sand. The specific heat of water is more than five times that of quartz sand. Thus, 4.18 J of heat are required to raise the temperature of 1 gram (g) of water by 1 °C, while only 0.83 J are required to raise the temperature of 1 g of quartz sand by 1 °C. This is one reason why beach sand is hotter than water on a sunny, summer afternoon.